Dying light
by Shadowzamy
Summary: An incident, a loss, an obsession, a program, and... a mistake. Oneshot. Message inside.


**Dying light**

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"Numbers... code... new program... GAH! so many failures..."

"Almost complete... A little more..."

"...just a few more tweaks... then the program will be perfect.."

"Finally... I can see you again..."

A timid voice speaks from the doorway, fragile fingers still clinging to the polished doorknob as if ready to slam it shut should the one inside be in an unpleasant mood. The figure would have scoffed at the thought, if he had not been already far too busy to take notice.

"Hao sama? U-um, everyone's been getting worried. You haven't left your room hardly at all since... the incident two years ago." Mari swallowed nervously at the glare Hao shot her in response to bringing it up before resuming his work.

"If that's all you have to say, tell them I'm fine and be on your way. I'm very busy."

Mari sighed and turned to leave like she always had before, but stopped herself misstep. She knew it might possibly be the last thing she'd ever say, but it needed to be said. With a deep breath, she swung around and shouted with an uncharacteristically stern tone.

"Hao sama, Yoh is dead! His soul was destroyed by the X-laws and there was nothing you could have done! HE'S NOT COMMING BACK!"

Not a second after the words had left her mouth did the room's heat blazed to that of an oven. Small dancing embers licked the door-frame near where she stood. She jumped back in fear, the flames reflecting a light in Hao's eyes which she'd once thought dead. The light which all of his once revered and feared more than any other. In the next second, that light was gone once more and the flames died around her. His eyes returned to the dull mirror reflecting a computer screen.

"Mari, despite what you all clearly think, my soul did not perish with Yoh's. I recommend you remember your place. Now, get lost before I change my mind and decide the spirit of fire needs a snack." Hao responded coolly.

"y-y-yes h-hao-sama."

Hao watched the frightened girl scamper off from the corner of his eye to make sure she left before returning his gaze to the monitor before him. Only one final piece to the puzzle. His lifeless hands typed for hours, the code swimming on the glass screen. Once the last necessary key was hit, his index finger hovered over the enter key. With a satisfying click, letters and numbers began to dance in a spiral, slowly forming the image of someone he'd once known.

The image was an exact representation of everything he remembered, choppy hair the same color as his own, that calm and relaxing smile. A little icon next to the frame of the boy reflected that of a heartbeat. Pixelated eyes appeared to stare right at him. It was all he could have hoped, and at the same time, nothing he wished for. Within that moment, he finally realized what Mari had been trying to say. The image was the same of his brother, the exact image. It just like his corpse, but thrown in 2D. Pure... and souless.

Tears cascaded down his cheeks as he shakily ran a finger over the image on the glowing screen, a tiny light in the corner signaling a low battery. The program made a walking motion and looked to smile reassuringly at him, like it was programmed to do. Lips moved a second out of time with the automated voice supposed to be speaking.

"Hello, onii-chan"

"H-hello, Yoh...I missed you"

"Are you alright?"

The tiny light flashed red, but this time, he made no move to recharge like he had in the past.

"Don't worry, everything will work out somehow."

"Yea, you're right... You always were."

With that, the red light vanished and the light of the screen was consumed by an endless black. Dead hands slowly moved to plug it in once more, eyes watching the loading scree pop up. A small ring of a message echoed in his ears for what seemed like eternity.

"Error, session closed unexpectedly"

"All data lost."  
.

.  
.

"...0...n11... ch4n?"

.  
.

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 **Hi all, Shadow here.** I posted this fic mostly to tell you all this. I know I've gotten a fair bit of messages lately asking when I'll update and I'm here to answer that. I have no idea. Collage has gotten harder lately and my stress level has gone through the roof. But that isn't even the main thing that prevents my updates. Its my lack of inspiration. To be honest, I'm loosing interest in the sk fandom. :/

I know I promised repeatedly that I'd finish all the fics I'd already posted, and I intend to. However they will likely be updated very slowly and once I am done with that, chances are I might leave FF. In all truth, I started loosing interest February of last year when someone very important to me died. A valued friend also vanished from the internet around that time and she was one of my great inspirations. I guess I haven't really had any will to do much in the way of writing fics since then. This year I guess is the time I've finally lost near all inspiration.

I haven't read any fics in a year either, been too busy working on other things. So, just wanted to let you know. Sorry. On another note, I'm switching my "upcoming stories" section on my profile page to "Stories up for adoption" If anyone's interested in adopting, you can pm me and I'll give you what I had written so far and it'll be yours to complete. That's all for now. Later all.


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